When examining a patient or preparing for surgery, in particular surgery in the area of bones (e.g., a spine, hip joint or knee operation), computer tomography recordings of the body structure in question are obtained. Using the CT images, the body structure in question can be analyzed prior to and/or during the surgical procedure. Generally, CT images of bone structures are obtained using x-ray images. X-ray images, however, require that the patient be subjected to x-ray radiation, which can be detrimental to the patient's health.
Nuclear spin tomography recordings (MRI), which can be obtained without a detrimental affect to the patient's health, are suitable for displaying soft tissue. MRI, however, produces poor images of bone structure, and many times the bone structure cannot be identified in the image.